バウボー
バウボー（古代ギリシャ語：Βαυβώ）は、ギリシア神話に登場する老婆で、特に初期オルペウス教の神話に登場する。歓楽の女神として知られ、下品で性的に自由な姿で描かれ、娘のペルセポネーを失ったデーメーテールが嘆くときに一緒に戯れたとされる。
学問的な議論
『ギリシャ神話』（1955年）の中で、ロバート・グレイヴスは、変装したデーメーテールがエレウーシスでセレウス王の客となったとき、王の足の悪い女中イアムベーについて、「この女中イアムベーが、この神話に登場する。」と書いた。
In The Greek Myths (1955), Robert Graves writes that when the disguised Demeter was the guest of King Celeus in Eleusis, the king's lame maid Iambe:
Graves writes:
The following excerpt is taken from Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Greeks, from a 1919 English translation:
Baubo figurines
Figurines known as Baubos are found in a number of settings, usually with Greek connections. They were mass-produced in a number of styles, but the basic figure always exposes the vulva in some way:
- A plump woman with her legs held apart, gesturing to her exposed vulva.
- A naked splay-legged figure holding a harp on the back of a boar.
- A naked headless torso with the face in the body and the vulva in the chin of the face.
- A seated figure with an exaggerated vulva filling the space between the legs.
- A naked squatting figure with her hands on her genitalia
The figurines usually had elaborate headdresses, and some hold cups or harps. Some figurines have a loop moulded into the head, which seems to indicate that they were suspended in some way (possibly as an amulet).
See also
- Anasyrma
- Dilukai
- Headless men
- Lajja Gauri
- Nin-imma
- Sheela na Gig
- Vagina and vulva in art
- Venus figurines
Bibliography
The following books are mostly about medieval sexual sculpture but have sections on Baubo:
- Dr. Jørgen Andersen, The Witch on the Wall: Medieval Erotic Sculpture in the British Isles, 1977.
- Miriam Robbins Dexter and Victor H. Mair, Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2010.
- Anthony Weir and James Jerman, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches, 1986.
External links
- Examples of Baubo figurines
- Baubo in Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Greeks The story of Baubo as related by Clement of Alexandria.
- Baubo figurines from the temple of Demeter at Priene, Turkey Face-in-body Baubo figurines.
